ST. JOSEPH — A St. Joseph faces three counts of domestic assault after he was accused of choking and punching a woman and shoving her face into mud, according to a criminal complaint filed in Stearns County District Court.

On Tuesday, law enforcement responded to a residence in St. Joseph after receiving a domestic assault complaint. Officers met with a woman who said that the night before, Bradley Douglas Nelson, 27, had assaulted her.

According to the woman, Nelson began yelling and calling her names because she wanted to go to sleep. During the argument, she said, Nelson dragged, slapped and grabbed her by the neck, applying pressure. The woman reported that she could not breathe.

The complaint said that when she heard her children crying and attempted to go upstairs to put them to bed, Nelson followed her up the stairs and she put herself in Nelson's path.

She said Nelson then pushed her down and kicked her in the back. The woman was eventually able to put the children to bed, after which she went outside, gathered some of her belongings from a vehicle, opened Nelson's backpack and took approximately $7 from it, according to the criminal complaint.

Nelson reportedly chased her and tackled her to the ground, shoving her face in the mud and punching her hand repeatedly until she let go of the money, according to the criminal complaint. Nelson then left.

Officers recorded that they saw redness, bruising and swelling on the woman's arms and back; matted down, muddy grass in the front lawn, as well as a dollar bill near the matted down area.

Nelson was arrested Tuesday and booked into Stearns County Jail on $20,000 bail. He was released Thursday and is expected to make his first court appearance Oct. 1 on two misdemeanor domestic assault charges and one felony count of domestic assault by strangulation.